Wallglass Investigations Agency

Template:CorpsInfobox The Wallglass Investigations Agency is private investigation company that operates throughout the Core Systems. Notable cases it has been contracted for include the search for missing heiress Talitha Ambrose, the murder of Alliance presidential candidate Fazia Silva, the conspiracy behind the Starship One disaster, the mystery of the ghost ship Adamastor and its sister ship Hesperus, and the origins of the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army.

Timeline

Template:Scrollbox-begin 14 JUN 3307

• The Affiliated Counter-Terrorism unit has published an update on its investigation into the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army. Senior Agent Tanya Ramirez, one of ACT's joint leaders, gave a statement to the media: "ACT is currently pursuing multiple lines of enquiry, which must remain classified for reasons of security. Our agents are gathering evidence from sites across the Alliance, Empire and Federation. As yet we cannot report any significant breakthroughs. NMLA activists appear to use a dark-comms network that defies detection. They also compartmentalise their operations, so individual cells have little knowledge of each other. In recent months, NMLA incidents have been restricted to minor strikes against Imperial authorities, which were dealt with by local police forces. There has been no activity by Theta Group, the hardcore extremists responsible for the 'Nine Martyrs' starport bombings. The collapse of the Neo-Marlinist Order of Mudhrid may have deprived the NMLA of their logistical capability to deliver large-scale attacks. But it remains possible that a new wave of terrorist atrocities is being planned." ACT later confirmed that it has recruited additional personnel from Alliance Interpol, the Federal Intelligence Agency, the Imperial Internal Security Service, the Marlinist Constabulary, Nova Imperium's Praetorian Guard and the Wallglass Investigations Agency.

27 APR 3307

• Francesca Wolfe of the Wallglass Investigations Agency examines the Hesperus megaship and the Dredger Clan that caused its recent discovery. "When the Adamastor derelict received a strange signal, smart money was on it originating from its sister ship, the Hesperus. Both were owned by Azimuth Biochemicals and had vanished 200 years ago. After a united effort to decode and trace the signal, independent pilots located the Hesperus in an asteroid belt around the second star of the Perseus Dark Region KC-V C2-2 system. Like the Adamastor, it was devoid of life – but not alone. Alongside it was a dredger, whose proximity had triggered the Hesperus's mayday. This was a rare sighting of a Dredger Clan, one of the nomadic tribes that Gunnarson recently discussed. The Scriveners Clan was originally a fleet of research vessels for a long-forgotten academic consortium. Over centuries they became a self-sufficient society, constantly acquiring materials and information. They're not aggressive, but shun outsiders and jealously guard their 'Knowledge Core'. I'm fascinated by mentions of research-sergeants and lector-generals, suggesting their culture is a merger of scholastic and military. With the Hesperus claimed as salvage by the Scriveners and its drives stripped, all chance of learning more was lost. Luckily, four encoded data files had resisted upload, and a gap in the dredger's antiquated firewalls allowed pilots to hack them. The decrypted logs have now been preserved for posterity in a nearby tourist beacon. They tell a disturbing story of corporate rivalry, murder and revenge, but also leave many unanswered questions... We know that survivors abandoned ship to continue searching for 'alien artefacts'. Did they all die in space or did they find something? What did Azimuth's probes detect back in 3113? And who the hell is 'Salvation', the shadowy figure who contacted pilots to find the Hesperus?"

12 APR 3307

• Erik Gunnarson of the Wallglass Investigations Agency discusses the nomadic tribes that wander the galaxy in converted dredger megaships. "It's well known that there are many travelling communities – groups of people who prefer to live on the move rather than settle anywhere. Proudly independent, they survive on the fringes of civilisation and tend to avoid interacting with the authorities. Those commonly known as the Dredger Clans are among the most successful. Dredger-class bulk cruisers convert both natural and man-made minerals into raw resources, to sustain themselves on deep-space voyages. Improved hyperdrives and fuel-scooping systems made this design redundant long ago, but some were taken over by nomads and kept operational. These dredgers are now a type of generation ship. Each hosts tens of thousands of people, whose cultures have evolved – or devolved – over decades or centuries. Some are true loners while others have formed alliances, or occasionally gather to increase their gene pools. Typically these clans act as scavengers, quickly passing through systems to steal anything not locked down. Several take what they need in more aggressive ways, such as raiding unprotected outposts. A few have even darker reputations. I remember being told as a boy: 'If you don't behave, the Phagos take you away in your sleep and eat you up.' All my childhood nightmares came surging back when I discovered there may be some truth to that story. More recently, I've heard rumours that a rarely seen Dredger Clan has resurfaced. Naturally, Wolfe has rushed off to find out more. Hopefully she'll be able to increase our limited knowledge of these mysterious tribes."

02 APR 3307

• Erik Gunnarson and Francesca Wolfe investigate the abandoned relics of spacefaring communities from the early years of colonisation.
  Wolfe: "Generation ships are essentially mobile cities designed to carry expanding populations, and are always an impressive sight. But there's one I keep returning to – the Thetis, orbiting Nefertem 6 a. Listening to its logs always chills my blood. They describe how a whispered phrase from an uninhabited planet somehow caused over 17,000 people to slaughter each other. Nobody knows if it was mass hysteria, psychological stress from decades in space, or… something else. So many visits to the Thetis, and I still can't work up the nerve to play its final log entry. I've been warned that I won't be the same afterwards."
  Gunnarson: "Before hyperdrives, generation ships were a viable way to colonise distant star systems. Millions of people lived out their whole lives within self-contained societies, so their descendants might walk upon new worlds. The tragedy is that many of these pioneering megaships vanished entirely, never reaching their destinations. But some were rediscovered, usually because of listening posts intercepting their ancient broadcasts. There are various reasons why these expeditions failed. The Lazarus, now orbiting Virudnir 6, suffered mechanical breakdowns whereas the Pleione, in the Hez Ur system, had a population that only produced male babies. Most disturbing are those where the crew descended into barbarism, like the Artemis at Mu Cassiopeia C 1 and the Demeter in the Mizuchi system. Along with Wolfe's favourite – if that's the right word – these stand as horrific monuments to our darker natures. Lost generation ships rarely carry survivors, but that was the case with the Golconda, whose people now occupy an outpost on Upaniklis B 3. So perhaps more living relics are still adrift in the void, waiting to complete centuries-long missions."

19 MAR 3307

• Private investigators Erik Gunnarson and Francesca Wolfe review the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army.
  Gunnarson: "We don't usually get involved with political cases, but it's hard to ignore the largest terrorist attack in history. The NMLA is a radical offshoot of Marlinism, a democratic movement named after the Republic of Achenar's original ruler, Marlin Duval. Most are peaceful protester types, but Neo-Marlinists want to overthrow the government by permanently removing the Imperial Family. What nobody knows is how the NMLA went from minor troublemakers to interstellar terrorists. The starport bombings last September came from nowhere, and their assassins have killed many Imperial bigwigs including Prince Harold Duval. Smart money was on them being funded by Empire's enemies, but now the NMLA treat the Alliance and Federation as equal targets. Hitting all three superpower capitals was a hugely symbolic gesture, and should have been impossible. How did they bypass security and plant explosives without detection? Who the hell are these people? Even Wallglass doesn't have a clue. But we won't stop searching."
  Wolfe: "Despite my enquiries – and some unauthorised snooping – there's no trace of the rumoured NMLA bomb factory in LTT 1935. But it did once exist, because the Empire captured its occupants. Not that they'll admit it. 'There is no such place as Serene Harbour', right? Well, I've been to R CrA Sector AF-A d42 3b and seen it myself. It's bleak. Hope-crushing. And yet the NMLA prisoners listed as Theta Group escaped, broken out by what seems like Imperial Intelligence double-agents. That genuinely scares me. If the NMLA can worm inside the most shadowy security organisation in known space, they could be anywhere. And none of us are safe."

10 MAR 3307

• Erik Gunnarson and Francesca Wolfe, two detectives from the Wallglass Investigations Agency, examine the background of the Adamastor megaship.
  Gunnarson: "When Wolfe and I started this project, we knew this case would come first. We're both protégés of Benjamin Chester, creator of the Wallglass Archive. He retired years ago, but that old spark kicked in when a 'ghost ship' turned up on his doorstep! The Adamastor is a 200 year old derelict that drifted into the Chukchan system on autopilot. It's still there, with the Alliance Salvage Guild poking through its guts. Chester investigated its owners, a super-secretive company called Azimuth Biochemicals. We don't know what they were searching for, but what they found was possibly the first recorded Thargoid encounter. I've since tracked down evidence that the Adamastor had a sister ship – the Hesperus – which in 3113 was sent to… somewhere! Neither ship returned, but we only know what happened on the Adamastor mission. Of course, Wolfe had to go see that with her own eyes."
  Wolfe: "Musca Dark Region PJ-P b6-1 is a busy system nowadays, but was unexplored when Professor Carver's survey team were there. Listening to their logs from two centuries ago while examining the research base was chilling… ghost voices from a ghost ship. There was evidence of blast scars, but I've seen enough battlefields to know what exchanged gunfire looks like. Azimuth's mercenaries weren't just firing at Thargoids, but at someone who shot back with laser rifles. Gunnarson tells me Azimuth was swallowed up by a rival called Pharmasapien. Did they infiltrate the Adamastor and try to take over? Or did the thing that Carver captured drive everyone insane? This is a seriously cold case, even for us. But maybe one day, more tantalising clues will emerge. And that's what we live for."

02 FEB 3307

• Evidence presented at the trial of Fleet Admiral Vincent suggested financial links to Federal shipbuilding corporation Core Dynamics. This significant development was covered by Ethan Takahashi for The Federal Times: "The initial investigations around Starship One's destruction in 3301 were outlined by the prosecution. When the Federal Attorney's Office revisited this historical data, traces were found of financial transfers routed through non-Federation banking systems. The FAO brought in the expertise of the Wallglass Investigations Agency, which discovered that these transactions were made via shell companies created by Core Dynamics. Fleet Admiral Vincent, as well as several other naval officers, received billions of credits through these companies that went undeclared. Vincent refused to answer any questions about this evidence, once again claiming that he is the victim of a conspiracy to hand the presidency to Felicia Winters." Despite multiple requests from the press, Core Dynamics has not made any public comment. There are unverified reports of large-scale activity taking place at some of the corporation’s centres of operation.

29 OCT 3306

• A private investigator has uncovered some background to the derelict megaship that recently arrived in this system. Little is known about the Adamastor, which returned on autopilot after two hundred years with no sign of its crew. But an experienced detective has come out of retirement to tackle this mystery. Local resident Benjamin Chester, who was a founding member of the renowned Wallglass Investigations Agency, told journalists: "I convinced the Alliance Salvage Guild to pass on some serial numbers that they discovered inside the Adamastor. Then I started scouring databases, interviewing sources and, well, doing my old job. The megaship was owned by a corporation called Azimuth Biochemicals. This was taken over by a similar company called Pharmasapien, but both were liquidated long ago. No mission records exist, but service crew reports mention that the Adamastor's passengers included scientists, engineers and some kind of military. Eventually I unearthed a flight plan, logged in October 3111. It plotted a course toward Barnard's Loop with fuel for approximately 370 light years, and was scheduled to pass by the HIP 39748 and HIP 33386 systems. I'm way too old to head out there myself, but l hope someone can use this info, and help satisfy my curiosity about what happened all those years ago."

13 JUN 3305

• President Gibson Kincaid has been removed from office after a majority vote in the Alliance Assembly, following charges of treason, murder and corruption. The date of his trial is expected to be confirmed soon. Alliance Interpol confirmed that Kincaid was detained while attempting to flee his personal estate on Zaonce. A firefight broke out between Interpol agents and emissaries from the Office of the Alliance President, acting as Kincaid's personal bodyguards. Several fatalities were later confirmed. A number of influential corporate and political figures who supported Kincaid's conspiracy to gain executive control of the Alliance have also been arrested, including a senior director at the Bank of Zaonce. Prosecutions are expected to rely heavily on the recent testimony of Admiral Frederick Yamamoto and a detailed report provided by the Wallglass Investigations Agency. Tashmira Silva, who privately commissioned the report, told the media: "I am satisfied that Kincaid will at last face justice for his crimes, including my sister's murder. Fazia championed fairness, and succeeded as an entrepreneur by believing in others, she would be pleased to know that the Alliance has been purged of such a corrupt presence."

01 JUN 3305

• Admiral Frederick Yamamoto, head of the Alliance fleet in Zaonce, has been charged with the assassination of former presidential candidate Fazia Silva. The shocking statement was delivered by Tashmira Silva, who became CEO of Silva Holdings Inc after her sister's death: "When the inquiry into Fazia's murder closed, I hired the Wallglass Investigations Agency at great expense to uncover the truth. They identified that a professional assassin with a background in the Alliance Defence Force was responsible. Unravelling a complex trail of financial evidence and encrypted communications led directly to Admiral Yamamoto. He personally arranged to have Fazia killed during the presidential election campaign, presumably to remove her political threat to his friend Gibson Kincaid." Alliance Interpol recently verified the Wallglass report and has now detained Yamamoto pending trial. The Zaonce fleet has been placed under the joint command of the Council of Admirals. There has been no comment from President Kincaid.

02 MAR 3305

• It has been revealed that Lady Talitha Ambrose's 300 billion credit fortune vanished as a result of her participation in a powerful gambling ring. Confirmation came when Baroness Oksana Ambrose shared a report from the Wallglass Investigations Agency: "Multiple sources verify that Lady Talitha has been a member of Jokers' Deck for years. At the group's most recent event, she bet the entire Ambrose Foundation during an epic game of high-stakes deadlock poker, and eventually lost. Lady Talitha was apparently devastated, fleeing the venue soon after. Some attendees believe that the game was rigged by one or more other players, who aimed to exploit Lady Talitha's well-known gambling addiction. The organisers of Jokers' Deck remain anonymous and untraceable, so retrieving the family’s assets is unlikely." An Ambrose Foundation spokesperson later stated that Baroness Oksana has officially revoked Lady Talitha's title, vowing never to speak to her daughter again.

15 FEB 3305

• The Ambrose Foundation has confirmed that Lady Talitha Ambrose is missing, and that all of its assets have been lost. Baroness Oksana Ambrose, head of the institution, told the media: "Everything we own has been transferred from our accounts to who knows where. Emergency funds are being used to settle debts and pay staff, but essentially the Ambrose Foundation is ruined. I can only assume that vicious criminals have kidnapped Lady Talitha and tortured her into surrendering her inheritance. I have used the last of our reserves to hire the Wallglass Investigations Agency. I pray that they can locate and rescue my beloved daughter."